How To Use ManyChat's Randomizer

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Breaking! A few weeks ago (Ok, so not EXACTLY “breaking”) ManyChat had a conference where they introduced a bunch of new features and I'm going to focus on just one of them today.

It's called the randomizer.

Now, what the heck is a randomizer?

The randomizer is a function that allows you to send people down a random number of paths. So for instance, have you ever hopped on a website and they happen to be having a sale that day, and if you spin this wheel, you could get a discount of five, 10, 20 or percent off your order. So you hit the button, spin the wheel, land upon a discount, and it's applied to check out.

That is a randomizer, that spin of the wheel with the four different choices. That's a really small example that I think is easy to visualize as we go through the rest of this discussion. So when you hear randomizer think wheel of fortune, basically Vanna White. (Does anyone watch wheel of fortune anymore? My grandmother-in-law watches lots of wheel of fortune when we go there, so someone does.)

Why would we need a Randomizer in A Chat Bot?

Don't we want to allow our subscribers a choice on what path they take?

Absolutely! I would never put the randomizer at the very beginning of an interaction during the welcome sequence. People should be kind of indoctrinated into what's going on, what their expectations are, what they can get from subscribing to the Bot, and I want them to have a choice on what path that they take at that point. They should make some conscious choices at the beginning of that experience so that they can frame their own experience within the Bot. That doesn't change.

But here's some interesting stuff. This randomizer allows you to gamify your bottle a little bit.

Why is that important? Well, if you have hit up any APP store recently, especially the iTunes APP store, it is just rows and rows of games, games that mostly people play on their phones. Ninety percent of the time I would say mobile games are quite a hit in this universe. So why not think about adding an element of gamification to the BOT that you're building?

But Really, RJ, how does a randomizer apply to my business?

Retail

Well, first of all, let's take that example of discounts. Say you are a coffee shop or a restaurant and you want to drive people to your front door. Now, consider that little game that we just talked about.

You can have a bot for your customers and inside the bot send them a little note saying:” Hey, click this button and see what discount you get for your next visit!” Then, you could give them Gif of a little spinning wheel and a click this button. Then they can see what it lands on and they get that discount on their bill. Next time they come to the store, all they have to do is present a coupon you provide them. If they land on 20 percent then they get a little thing that they can print out or show on their phone that says that they get 20 percent off their next visit.

That's a really simple way to do things. There are more complicated ways of doing things as well, if you want.

Coaches and Services

Here's another way to think about using that randomizer and if you are any type of a coach, buckle up. This one's for you.

So, a lot of life coaches deal with folks who like quotes, affirmations, Meditation's, and manifestations. These are all part and parcel of what people enjoy getting from their coaches. They love a little bit of guidance to set their feet right on the path for the day, that type of stuff. If you're a business coach, maybe a different set of things that you could use-- tips for the day, maybe little pdfs, giveaways, things like that that are much more business oriented.

But think about this: Think about having a set of 30 of these things that are very short. Perhaps it's just an image with a quote on it. Maybe it's a bad joke. I mean, I love bad jokes as well as the next person-- actually probably more and probably too much. Maybe it's a .pdf giveaway. It could be so many things. You make about 30 of these and then when folks come into your bot (or you can broadcast this message as well) you can say, “Hey, time for the tip of the day, spin the wheel. See what you get.” People touch the button and they get one of 30 quotes, affirmations, business tips, whatever you've got. This really kind of kicks it up a notch a little bit because to me, if I had the time, I would put, I would put in there 30 ways to use your bot.

Make your bot stand out!

I think that randomization is hardwired into humanity right now. That idea of when we spin a wheel or when we touch a button and we're going to get a surprise result, the end, adds interest and excitement even if it's a momentary thing. This randomizer can add gamification elements and add surprise and excitement to your Bot. Once again, making your Bot stand out is going to be very, very important as we go forward because bots are getting more out there. Everybody seems to be building one. There's a new chatbot platform every five minutes, so you want your stuff to stand out.

Until this, we have thought of bots in terms of sequences. And, you can totally still make the same sequence. It's just that with the randomizer things are taken out of order and that adds a little element of chance, a little element of surprise that has been proven, my friends, to keep people coming back to the same place over and over and over again. That is what gamification is about! That is why the iTunes store is so chock full of apps that play games that you can't even see straight. People huddled around their phones or whatever sort of gaming. I think the Nintendo switch is very popular. This is what I hear from my nephew anyway.

Think about this. Think about adding this random chance to your bot. Think of adding a level of gamification that will delight and surprise your people. And help your bot stand out!

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